Mini Turducken Recipe
Turducken is a meat creation made famous in Louisiana and it involves stuffing a whole deboned turkey with a deboned chicken stuffed with a deboned duck. If you’ve never been to Louisiana, chances are you’ve never heard of turducken but here in the south you just might see it on the Thanksgiving table. I decided to make a mini Turducken by using just the breast of these birds and it turned out way better than I envisioned. First, for this mini turducken recipe, I had to source the 3 birds. I found the chicken and duck breasts at my local Kroger but didn’t have any luck locating boneless, skinless turkey breast. I went ahead and bought a whole bone-in turkey breast and cut each side off the bone and removed the skin. Butterfly each breast so they’ll lay flat. In between each layer of meat this mini turducken has a layer of sausage or other type stuffing. I’m using a spicy pork sausage mixed with sautéed onion and mushroom for 1 layer, and a crawfish boudin sausage removed from the casing for the other. Use your imagination here; I’ve seen some pretty creative and tasty ideas that really give the turducken flavor. To assemble the mini Turducken, stretch out plastic wrap over a cutting board and place the turkey breast down first. Spoon the spicy sausage mixture on the turkey and place the chicken breast down next. Top it with the crawfish boudin and finally the duck breast. Bring the edges of the turkey up and around and wrap the whole thing tight with plastic wrap. Notice I didn’t season anything at all. The spicy sausage and boudin have a plenty of flavor and the whole thing is going to get wrapped in bacon….Yeah I said Bacon! Rest the mini turducken in the refrigerator for a couple hours to help them form into a roast shape. (It would be ok to go overnight if needed). To cook the turducken fire up your smoker. I used my Big Green Egg with the plate setter for indirect heat. Add some wood to the hot coals for smoke; I went with cherry for a lighter flavor. Bring the cooker to 275-300⁰ and let it stabilize. Stretch out a sheet of butcher paper over your work surface and build a 9×9 strip bacon weave. Unwrap each turducken and place turkey side down (duck side up). Bring the bacon weave up and around the turducken and fold or trim the end pieces. Place each on a greased wire rack (my chicken racks work great) and place on the Big Green Egg. It’ll take a couple of hours to smoke these mini turduckens. After an hour, go ahead and insert a probe thermometer into the center to monitor internal temperature. I like to use the Thermoworks DOT – it’s works great. Turducken needs to cook to a minimum of 165⁰, so just keep a watchful eye on the temp and if the bacon gets too dark lay a piece of foil over it to stop the browning. When the alarm sounds, remove each turducken from the grill and rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing. These mini turduckens turned out incredibly tender and juicy. The sausages gave the breasts a spicy but not hot flavor, and you know the bacon just made it better. You can really get adventurous with this recipe to make it your creation. If you’re looking for a different idea on what to cook for the Holidays, give this recipe a try. PrintMini Turducken Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Turkey Breast (boneless, skinless)
- 2 Chicken Breast (boneless, skinless)
- 2 Duck Breast (boneless, skinless)
- 2lb Thin sliced bacon
- ½ lb Spicy Pork Sausage
- ½ lb Crawfish Boudin Sausage removed from casings.
- 6oz diced mushrooms
- ½ onion diced
- ½ cup Bread Crumbs
- 1 TBS Olive Oil
Instructions
- In a sauté pan over medium heat add olive oil and onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion turn translucent. Add mushrooms and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Place spicy sausage in sauté pan and brown. Add onion/mushroom mixture and strain excess fat. Place in a bowl and stir in bread crumbs to combine.
- Cover a cutting board with plastic wrap and place turkey breast on top. Layer with 2 tablespoons of sausage mixture followed by a chicken breast. Layer with 2 Tablespoons of boudin sausage and top with duck breast.
- Fold the edges of the turkey breast around and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Store in refrigerator for 2 hours up to overnight.
- Preheat Big Green Egg or other grill/smoker for indirect cooking at 275-300⁰ add cherry wood chunks to hot coals for light smoke.
- Lay out a sheet of wax or butcher paper on the work surface and build 9×9 strip bacon weave.
- Unwrap each mini turducken and place on bacon weave turkey side down. Wrap bacon around turducken and fold edges. Place on greased wire cooking rack.
- Place each turducken on the smoker and cook until internal temperature reaches 165⁰ on instant read thermometer. Rest each for 15 minutes and slice into desired pieces.
Have a Question About This Recipe?
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Malcom, did you butterfly or thin out the chicken and duck breasts?
Thanks,
Chris
didn’t have to with the chicken and duck breast because the ones I purchased didn’t require it. You can always butterfly or pound out any of the breasts if needed.
Do you cook the boudin before putting it on?
yes, it was cooked in the casing
Thanks for this! How many packs of bacon did you need for each weave?
Depends on how big you need your weave. I would prepare to have 2 packs
Just so you know, turducken isn’t from Louisiana, or even the United States. It comes from Eastern Europe, and is particularly popular with Jews on Passover. You will find Turducken wherever Ashkenazi Jews can be found, particularly in places like New York City or Chicago. Of course, Jews don’t generally do a bacon weave…
Do you have advice for cooking this assembly in the oven? Obviously I’d be seeking the internal temp for doneness, but I guess you’d be shooting for a 300 oven and check temp after 45 minutes or so? Thanks
Yeah, that should work.
I’m looking for a recipe just for a smoked Duck. I see you have a YouTube Video for one but the only thing that comes up when I search here is this Mini Turducken. Do you have a written go-by for just Duck? Thanks for all the great information. Your knowledge as made my smoking skills a 1000 times better.
I was wondering if you have a typed Go-By for just Duck? I see you have a YouTube Video for one but when I search here all I see is this MiniTurducken. Thank You for your knowledge it has made my Smoking Skills 1000 times better.
How to start this, thanks would be appropriate.
Replaced the crawfish boudin by a butternut squash puree seasoned with herbs and a little cayenne for heat. It did shine orange !!
Added few drops of liquid smoke in the sausage filling, to get some smokiness in the meat
Painted with BBQ sauce North Carolina version tangy and spicy.
Cooked in the oven for 3h at 300 (f)
It was a delicious meal, the slow cooking made all the meat juicy.
can be done in the house, turned out almost like the video !! thanks
Can you make ahead? If so what is the best way to reheat without drying out?
It will be best served fresh.
What would you suggest to substitute crawfish boudin sausage. I live in California and having a hard time finding the sausage
I want to make this on camping trip (frozen wrapped and pre-assembled) Do you think a campfire dutch oven could be brought to a heat high enough to cook this safely to 165 degrees?
I don’t know, never cooked it in a dutch oven.
Have to say that I am not a huge fan of turkey, so if you’re like me use goose instead of turkey. Goose seems to get less dry IMO as well but I use a meat injector and make a liquid of white wine, hot chicken stock and chicken Bovril.
And here is a Top Gear Top Tip. Do it in a similar manner but use Goose, Venison and Rabbit. Sage and onion stuffing in between. Nom Nom Nom
WOW. This is my next to do when fresh turkeys become available in the UK. We have a bird in a bird in bird which is the same as the turducken but traditionally cooked in an oven.
Believe from a colleague who lived for a period in Texas that the turducken there was deep fried.
Anyhow, this recipe has given me inspiration and cant wait to get it in the BBQ when fayre allows.
Hey Malcom doing this for thanksgiving have all my ingredients and I purchased ground andouille and will use it with a wild rice stuffing will post pics on Twitter I am sure, as in all your recipes, it’s gonna be outstanding and glad you finally did a pastrami I have been making my own for three years one every year. On my first one I HAD to purchase a meat slicer ? told my wife it was necessary to cut thin slices
Making this for T-give next week amd was curious ow long this takes (toughly) in the smoker?
1.5 to 2 hours is about all
Making this for T-give next week and was curious How long this takes (roughly) in the smoker?
It’ll take about 2 hours
Our bacon was cooked well on one side but not on the other. Might there be a way that we can avoid this the next time? Should we cook it longer? The outside color was nice and brown. Should we make the bacon weave a little looser?
Malcom, I don’t live far away from you and am having a heck of a time sourcing duck breasts and Crawfish Boudin. Recommendations?
Check out lacrawfish.com . You can order it from them.
Malcom,
gotta say I’ve become an awesome cook because of your guidance. I dont live that far, up in G’town and was wondering where would be a good place to get duck breast? also can you explain a little more about how you did the turkey part?, I’m assuming that you just thawed a 10-12 lb bird and cut/butterflied the 2 breast? any other tips for this recipe would be appreciated and thanks again, we love you recipes!!!!